Pokemon: Hellfire and Brimstone
by ChaosTwins
Summary: This fic is blatantly SI. I wreak havoc with the Pokemon universe as you know it. Set in Sinnoh; read inside for a bit more information. Rated M for language.
1. Oh shit, was that all I had to do?

Pokemon Hellfire and Brimstone

Karuke

Opening notes:

Look. I know you're all wondering why the hell I'm starting a _third_ fic when my track record with keeping up with them is kind of, well, sucky. Well, this is purely from me and I take all responsibility for it. I'm actually writing this for Naruke and Kori. Because we're all three of us Pokemon freaks. My DS has an emo Bonsly sticker on it. Hell, I have a Diamond and Pearl sticker book. I found it in a book store and decided that I must have it.

Anyway. This is a really easy, laid-back fic, which is why it's rated M. I'm not restricting my language or anything, because I have a really hard time doing that in YH2 and BSSM. Anyway, this is a blatant SI fic set in the D/P universe. I'm using my own plot, by the way, because it's more interesting. I do it for the lolz, Jane.

Chapter 1: Oh Shit, Was That Really All I Had to Do?

Caryn opened her front door and blinked at the sunlight. "Fucking old man telling me to come to his house at the fucking _crack of dawn_ for some stupid Pokemon…" She sighed and pulled her hat lower over her long black hair and set off down the road to the Professor's lab. She hiked up her backpack and sighed. At least her mom had given her all her old lightweight equipment from when she'd been traveling.

It was a long walk--half an hou--through tall weedy grass to get to the next town where the lab was set up. Caryn trudged her way through the grass with a scowl, muttering about the ticks she was sure she had by now. She paused to roll her jeans up and fix her sandals, and then set off again. When she reached Sandgem Town, she immediately found the lab by light of the fact that it was the biggest building in the whole town.

She walked in, rolled her jeans down, brushed the dust off of herself, and marched right up to where the professor was standing. There was a girl already standing there talking to him. The girl was short, skinny, and definitely clad for traveling. She was wearing green-gray hiking boots, khaki shorts, a plain green tee-shirt, and her short brown hair was pulled back under a gray bandana.

"So I'll stop by the 'Mart before I leave and then I'm on my way. I told Corey I'd meet him in Jubilife. Thanks, Professor!"

Professor Rowan smiled indulgently at her. "Indeed. Oh, Kate, this is the other girl I was telling you about. Come here, Caryn."

Caryn edged forward watching the girl who was clutching a red and white pokeball in her hand. "Um, good morning, Professor."

"Kate, this is Caryn. She's starting her journey today."

The other girl held out her hand with a smile, and Caryn shook it. "Nice to meet you! Good luck with your training, okay?" She smiled again and turned. "I've gotta get going now. Bye Professor, thanks again. And bye, Caryn!" She walked out and Caryn turned to the Professor.

"Well, I suppose you're ready to go, then?" he asked as Caryn took off her book bag.

"I'd like to go as soon as possible, Professor. It's a long walk to Jubilife and I'd like to get there before nightfall."

"I won't delay you then. On the table there are three Pokemon: Piplup, a water type; Chimchar, a fire-type; and Turtwig, a grass-type. Do you have a preference? Have you thought about it?"

Caryn looked through the transparent red of the pokeballs at the tiny forms within. "I'd like Piplup," she said slowly, picking up one of the balls and looking in at the blue penguin-like creature.

"All right. Here, these are for you." The Professor handed Caryn a belt, a small bag of five pokeballs, and something flattish and red.

"What's this?" she asked, looking at the red thing closely.

"It's your Pokedex. It's almost complete, but I'm getting too old to go around all over Sinnoh now. So I want you to do your best to finish it for me. Kate, whom you saw earlier, and her friend have their own, too. They're working hard to finish it for me."

"So no pressure," Caryn muttered, looping the belt through her jeans and fastening the empty pokeballs into the small metal clasps at her side. She looked once more at Piplup and smiled.

"Well, there's really not much more I can offer to you, Caryn, except good luck on your journey."

"Thanks, Professor Rowan," the girl responded, attaching Piplup's ball to her belt as well. "I'm going to stop by the 'Mart before I go."

"Be careful! And stop by and visit me sometimes," Rowan called after her as she left.

Caryn waved as the door closed behind her. "Now I'll pick up some potions and be on my way." She walked slowly down the street to the Pokemart and opened the door. Inside, she nearly tripped over a large hiking pack that lay next to the door. "What the--!"

"Oh, sorry about that!" the girl from earlier came over with her arms full of items. "I leave my stuff by the door usually because it gets heavy after a while."

"It's okay," Caryn said, flexing her bruised toes. "You're Kate, right?"

"Yep! And you're Caryn, right? Starting your journey today?" Kate walked over to the counter and unloaded her purchases. The woman there began to ring them up as Kate dug around in a pocket and pulled out a wallet.

"Yeah." Caryn began to browse the shelves, pulling out several items as she went.

"Good for you," Kate replied, bringing her stuff back over to her pack and sorting things out into different pockets. "Stocking up on supplies before you go is smart. Most new trainers just head right out into the wild and never think twice about needing restoratives."

"Yeah, well, I'm a genius, what can I say?"

Kate laughed. "Where you headed after this?"

Caryn brought her stuff to the counter and paid. "Up north to Jubilife. I'll stop there for the night, poke around, and then head east to Oreburgh."

"Cool. Want to go together? I'm leaving for Jubilife myself today."

Caryn looked the short girl up and down as she dumped all her stuff into her book bag. "Sure. It's safer to travel with someone than alone, especially if you aren't familiar with the road. And I'm reasonably sure you aren't an axe murderer in disguise."

Kate grinned and pulled her pack on. "I like you already. You set?"

"Yep." Caryn put on her back pack. "Let's go."

The walked out of the store chatting idly and headed up the road that led to route 202.

"I'd really like to see the ruins in Celestic Town," Caryn was saying as they trudged through the tall grass.

"Eh, there's really not much there but some cave paintings on a wall. And it's such a pain to get to Celestic. I mean, you can take 211 from Eterna to Mount Coronet, which is a pain, or you can go the long way around through Hearthome, Solaceon, 215, and 210. 215 is really long, and 210 is right on the edge of the mountains, so it's very craggy and full of bridges over lots of waterfalls and things."

"You can always enter Mount Coronet and travel north through there."

"You can, but it's a tough road and a lot of the easier paths are blocked by water. So unless you have good water Pokemon or some excellent swimming skills…"

"Yeah, but I'd still like to see it. I love history stuff. You should see my bookshelf at home."

"I can imagine. I'm a fan of some local history, like the area around Sandgem and Jubilife."

"Did you grow up here?"

"I'm from Sandgem, originally, but we moved to Jubilife a few years back. That's where I met Corey. He's in Jubilife now; we decided that since we were in the area we'd travel together for a little while."

"Cool. How long have you been traveling?"

"Only since about April. Corey's been training since November, though. He's way stronger than I am. He's got the first four badges; I only have two."

"So you only have the Coal and Forest Badges?"

"Yep. Wanna see?"

"Sure."

Kate reached into a side pocket of her pack and pulled out a long, thin case, handing it to Caryn. Caryn opened it, revealing the two small badges within. "Cool." She handed the case back and Kate put it away.

"We should hit Jubilife by dinner time," Kate went on. "Oh, hold on, let me tell Corey we'll be there tonight." She paused, and pulled a pokeball off the belt that was slung over her hip and attached at the front and back of the one she was already wearing. "Staraptor, come out." The ball expanded and out came a large dark gray and white bird with quick dark eyes and a funky growth of feathers over its head. Kate pulled a notebook out of her pack and a pen from her pocket and began to write. She tore the page out when she was finished and rolled it up, handing it to Staraptor, who took it in his beak. She stroked his neckfeathers lovingly. "Take that to Corey in Jubilife, would you? You can stay there with him for a while; we'll be back tonight. Can you do that for me, handsome?" The Pokemon chirruped around the paper in its beak and began a short hopping run, launching himself in the air and flying off north.

"So you use him sort of like a carrier pigeon?" Caryn asked, watching the spot in the distance rapidly diminishing.

"Something like that. Corey has a Staravia, and he does the same thing. That's usually how we find out when we're not too far from each other. And they're such good navigators; Staraptor's never come back without delivering a letter."

"That's cool. Oh, here, let me show you something." Caryn lifted her hat off her head and two long, dark pigtails fell out from under it. From one of them, a pokeball was dangling on a string. "Come on out, Ninja!" The ball expanded briefly, released a small form, and then shrank again. It was a small brown bird, barely reaching Kate's knee. It popped the leek it was holding into its beak and fluttered up to sit on Caryn's head. "Hey, no you don't," she said, moving her down onto her shoulder.

"What's that Pokemon called?" Kate asked, reaching for the back pocket of her shorts. She pulled out her Pokedex, green rather than red.

"Farfetch'd," Caryn replied, watching in rapt fascination.

"They're not from Sinnoh, are they?"

"No, a friend of the family sent me her for my birthday several years ago. Farfetch'd are originally from Kanto."

"Cool." Kate removed a stylus from the side of the Pokedex and began to press things on the screen.

"Farfetch'd," the electronic voice repeated. "A duck-type Pokemon wielding a green onion like a sword."

"Is that accurate?" Kate asked.

Caryn blinked at her. "Um, yeah, I guess so. How'd you do that?"

"Oh, Rowan didn't give you a Pokedex? I thought he was going to."

"No, he did," Caryn pulled hers out and showed it to Kate. "I just haven't played with it yet."

"I see. Well, Rowan wants us to finish them, right? And that means when we run into new Pokemon, we need to enter data on them. So what you do is you press this white button—it's blue on yours, see, right there?" Kate pointed.

"Okay." Caryn pressed it.

"Then you enter the name of the Pokemon, and press the next button down. That activates a small camera that takes a picture for the entry."

Caryn pulled out her stylus and typed in Farfetch'd's name. Then she aimed the Pokedex at her shoulder and pressed the camera button. When she looked at the screen, there was an image of her Pokemon with the name below. "Now what?"

"Press the button on the bottom; mine is black, but yours might be something else."

"It's white." Caryn pressed it and on the screen of the 'dex appeared a blank text box and a display like a keyboard.

"Now you enter what you want it to say."

Caryn fiddled with her stylus for a minute and then began to press letters on the screen. "And then…"

"Press the green button next to the screen."

"Okay." The screen faded, and then the picture she took appeared with the information entry underneath.

"Farfetch'd," the voice confirmed. "A bird-type Pokemon with a strange obsession with leeks."

Kate laughed. "You can edit previous entries, too, but I'll show you that later. Shall we continue?"

"Yeah, let's get going."


	2. Kate's Irrational Fear

Hellfire and Brimstone

Hellfire and Brimstone

Note: It is August in this story. Or somewhere around there. High summer.

Just to let you know, we aren't dead, just busy. The next chapter of Yaoi Hearts 2 is slow in the writing because we're having trouble all getting together for long enough periods of time. Also, most of this next chapter is stuff we made up or changed drastically. Give us a break.

Chapter 2: Kate's Irrational Fear

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Jubilife city came at last into view around some trees clustered on either side of the path. Caryn sighed and began to walk faster. Then she froze. "Hey, what's that?"

Kate stopped as well, looking in the direction Caryn had pointed. "Looks like a trainer in the grass, I suppose."

"But isn't that your Staraptor?"

"Lots of trainers have Staraptors," Kate shrugged. "I doubt he's out here when I told him to wait with Corey in Jubilife."

"Hm." Caryn continued to watch the form that was waist-high in the grass as it stalked around purposefully in every-growing circles with the Staraptor following it in the sky.

"Wait." Kate, who had started walking, stopped again and stared squint-eyed at the dark blond hair under a dusty green hat. "Hold on a second, I thought--" Then she heaved a deep sigh.

"What?" Caryn was looking at her.

"It's Corey."

"What?"

But Kate didn't respond. Instead, she took in a deep breath and cupped her hands around her mouth. "OI! COREY!" she yelled.

The figure stopped moving and turned. Then it seemed to recognize Kate, for it waved and yelled something unintelligible. Kate began to wade through the grass to her friend and Caryn followed.

The two met somewhere in the middle and hugged briefly. Staraptor landed next to Kate and stared up at her expectantly. She stroked his head and congratulated him on another job well done before returning him to his ball.

"What are you doing out here?" Kate asked, turning to her friend.

Corey was not much taller than Kate, and that made him shorter than Caryn by almost a head. He wore khaki cargo shorts and a gray tee shirt under a blue button-up shirt. His pokeballs were attached to bracers on his wrists, three to each. "I needed to train Espeon while I was in a weaker area."

Kate nodded as if this made sense and then blinked. "Oh, right. Corey, this is Caryn. She's just started today, and I figured since we were headed to the same place she could tag along."

Corey smiled and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Caryn replied, accepting the hand and shaking it.

"Well, either way, we should maybe make it back to town, you think?" Kate was saying. "I'm tired; I need a shower, and a back rub. I have a whole bunch of stuff to sell and those stones you asked me to get."

"You got them all already?" Corey asked, beginning to wade back towards the shorter grass of the main path.

"I did."

"Awesome."

"I know I am. You can thank me later by pulling my shoulders back for me."

Caryn listened to the two chatting for a while. She blinked. "Pull your shoulders back?"

"When I've been on the road for too long with no real breaks, I start to get kind of hunched from carrying my pack. I have back problems as it is, so this just kind of makes them worse. Corey basically just pulls my shoulders back until they crack and I can stand straight again."

"Oh. I can crack your back for you, if you want."

Kate turned starry eyes on her. "Would you really?"

"Sure."

"I knew you were worth traveling with!"

Corey laughed. "Kate will go with anyone who can give a good massage. She'll ignore a criminal background if you can make her back stop hurting. Ask at any time of day and she'll tell you it hurts."

"I'll teach you some stretches to help relieve the pain, too."

"I love you!"

"Thank you."

The three of them laughed and continued up the path to where the lights of the city were just starting to come on.

Jubilife was not a huge city by most standards, but it was much bigger than either Twinleaf or Sandgem. Caryn had been there once or twice as a child with her mother, but that was all. She listened as Kate and Corey told her about various places along the road they followed to the Pokecenter.

The Nurse Joy at the center smiled prettily when they walked in and led them through a side door into a hallway with more doors on either side. "The bathroom is at the end of the hall," she said gesturing, "and you can choose any of these rooms as your own."

In the end and after much begging from Kate, they picked one with a window that was next to the bathroom and sat resting for a minute on their beds. Caryn had taken the top bunk, Kate the bottom, and Corey had glared fiercely at the two if they went anywhere near his bed against the far wall.

"I call first shower," Kate said, grabbing a towel from the table near the door and a change of clothes from her bag. She disappeared out the door before either of the other two could protest.

Caryn sighed. "She moves fast."

"When it comes to a shower, yeah. At least she's usually pretty quick and she doesn't use all the hot water."

"It's not like there's much of her there to wash," Caryn replied.

"She is kind of small, isn't she?"

"Kind of?"

"Okay, she's really small."

"There you go."

Five minutes passed in which Corey and Caryn spoke little, the former feeling slightly awkward and the latter feeling more than a little tired.

Kate returned in a denim skirt and a red and white polka-dotted button-up shirt over a red tank top. She was rubbing her hair vigorously with a towel as she walked and grinned at the two of them. "Who's next?"

Caryn and Corey exchanged looks, and with a sigh, Corey sat back on his bed. Caryn's fierce glare had won. She was well-versed in the art of death-glares.

As the door shut behind Caryn, Kate draped her towel over the back of the chair that sat next to the table and flopped onto her bunk.

"So?"

"So what?"

"She's special." Corey sat up.

Kate laughed. "I like her. She's like me only more evil."

"Yeah, because we really need one of those."

"Well, okay. From the standpoint of someone who has been traveling for a while and seen lots of stupid fucktard newbies, she's pretty damn smart. She passed the test on the first try."

"That's nice. So did we."

"Yes, but most newbies are stupid fucktards and it takes them a few tries."

"That's why they're stupid."

"Exactly. Caryn is obviously _not_ a stupid fucktard. She knows her stuff. Rowan told me that she's helped out in his lab a few times when he's needed it."

"Awesome."

"It is. Think we should group up with her for a while after this? We're all headed in the same direction anyway."

Corey shrugged nonchalantly, and that seemed to decide the matter. Kate dug around in her bag until she found a comb, and then she began the process of taming her wet hair.

Caryn returned fifteen minutes later in a fresh pair of jeans and a clean tee shirt with her hair already brushed and pulled back into a messy sort of bun. Strung around it like beads were six pokeballs.

Kate blinked. "That's an….interesting way of carrying them."

"Thank you." Caryn sat down and opened her Pokedex as Corey dug his things out and made for the shower. "I prefer it to a belt."

"Whatever floats your boat, hun. So while you were gone, my stomach was telling me that it needed filling."

Caryn's stomach grumbled loudly. "Yeah, mine too. What's we's eatin'?"

"Well, there's a Chinese place around the corner, Italian down the street, a burger joint next street over, and Japanese up the street the other way. We don't care, since we've been to those places so many times the people there know us by name and we have, like, special seats. So it's up to you."

"I'm feeling like having…. Um…." Caryn's stomach gave another rumble. "No, they don't have IHOP in Jubilife," she told it. It made a noise that sounded suspiciously like an angry cat. "Well then, pick Chinese or Japanese." It made a short gassy sort of growl and Caryn nodded. "Japanese it is."

Kate blinked. "O—okay…"

"What, don't you talk to your stomach?"

"Not like that."

"You're missing out. It can tell you the most interesting things."

"I'll, uh, take your word on that."

"You do that."

Kate went back to the book she was reading and Caryn continued fiddling with her Pokedex.

"So does Corey have a boyfriend?" Caryn asked suddenly.

"What?" Kate blinked and folded the corner of her page down.

"Corey. He strikes me as batting for the other team. Does he have a boyfriend?"

Kate made fish mouths for a minute before her voice returned. "I-uh—not that I know of?"

"But who said you had to know about them? I mean, you two don't always travel together, right? He might have one secreted away in Veilstone or something." Caryn nodded knowingly.

"I should think that I _would_ know about them, seeing as how we're dating already."

Caryn just kind of stared.

"Well, dating in a loose sense of the word, since we're both traveling all the time."

Caryn continued to stare.

"What?!"

"Nothing. Just kind of surprised me. Okay, that's cool. Guess that answers that question."

"What question?" Corey asked, returning in jeans and a tee shirt with his towel draped over his shoulders.

"You don't want to know," Kate replied. "Trust me."

Corey caught her look and nodded. "Okay, never mind. I don't want to know."

"Okay," said Caryn standing up. "Are we all ready for food? I am so hungry I could out-eat a Snorlax."

Corey raised an eyebrow as he slid on his sneakers and tied the laces. "I think the Snorlax would out eat you by virtue of rolling over on top of you to stop you taking its food."

"In Soviet Russia," said Kate with a very bad accent, "Food eats Snorlax!"

"I'm sure it does," Corey said, patting her shoulder. "You ready?"

"Yes!" Kate leapt off her bed and was at the door before either of them.

The walk to the restaurant took about ten minutes because they had to stop while Caryn nearly got in a fist fight with a biker that wasn't paying attention to where he was going. The argument ended with Kate dragging Caryn off while Corey apologized for her to the nasty-looking man.

The woman who seated them wore a pretty green kimono with a pale pink apron over top and brought them out some tea. She took their orders, and then returned to chat with Kate and Corey for a while. Kate wasn't kidding when she said they knew the pair well at the restaurants.

"How is Kimiko doing?" Corey asked.

"Oh, she's fine! She's just got her third badge; she came back to visit for a little while and show off the Pokemon she got in a trade. She's got herself a Cherubi now," the woman replied with a smile. "How about you two? I see you picked up a friend."

Kate grinned. "This is Caryn. She's still new, Hanako. I met her in Sandgem today."

Hanako smiled warmly at Caryn, who had taken a liking to the happy woman. "And who did you pick to start with?" she asked.

"Piplup," Caryn replied. "But I've had a Farfetch'd for years already."

"Oh? My grandmother had a Farfetch'd. They're brave little Pokemon. You know somebody in the Kanto region, then?"

"A friend of my mother's lives there."

"I see. That's nice, you must hear about all kinds of Pokemon from them!"

"I do; its interesting t--"

"What are these hooligan trainers doing in my restaurant?!" boomed a voice from behind them.

Kate leapt up from her chair and tackled the man standing there in a hug. "Grampa Hideki!"

"Ohohoho!" the older man's laugh was deep and fruity. "How dare you come here and not say hello to me and Fuuko!"

Corey grinned. "We were talking to Hanako. Where is Fuuko?"

"She's sleeping near the oven in the kitchen, as always. She's not as young as she was when you two played with her." Hideki came and sat down with them and Caryn was introduced. This man owned the restaurant and Caryn could see that although he was getting old, he was still strong and healthy.

"You missed my granddaughter by two days," he was saying. "Kimiko just left."

Kate smiled. "Aww, you think we only ever come here to see Hanako and Kimiko, but we like you too, Grampa Hideki."

"Oh, I know, but I'm too old for you to bother with now. It's better for you to speak to my daughter. She'd never hear about anything outside of Jubilife if it weren't for you two and her daughter."

"Papa, I like working here." Hanako looked mildly offended.

Sensing an argument, Caryn stepped in. "Grampa? I didn't think you two were related?" She looked between Kate and the older man.

"I wasn't born here, remember? When we moved, I was still really young. I ended up getting lost and wandering in here, and Grampa Hideki let me play with Fuuko and eat for a little while and then he helped me find my way home. I've come play here ever since. And then, when I met Corey, I brought him here to play too."

Hideki smiled. "These two brought in half of my regular customers! They'd draw flyers and then hand them out to people on the street."

Caryn raised an eyebrow at them.

"We were bored," Corey said. "And we felt kind of bad about always getting free food."

The rest of the night passed with lots of food, lots of talking, and lots of laughing. Caryn wondered if traveling with Kate and Corey would always bring this much fun.

Her question was short-lived, because when they woke up early the next day, rain was pounding hard against the window and lightning streaked the sky. Caryn rolled over as a loud rumble of thunder sounded over head. She sighed at the thought of walking in a thunder storm and blinked against a bright streak of lightning.

"Ah!" There was a rustle from the bottom bunk that accompanied the cry, and Corey sat up across the room as Caryn peered over the edge of her bed.

"What was that?" she asked as Corey stood up slowly and stretched.

"Kate doesn't like thunder storms. Specifically lightning." He walked over to her bed, sat down, and began poking at the quivering lump of blankets. "Get up."

"Don't like thunder storms," came the muffled reply.

"Get up." Corey grabbed the book from the floor next to her bed and began to hit the spot he estimated her head to be.

Caryn watched in amusement as another flash of lightning lit the room clearly and the girl under the blankets twitched violently as the accompanying thunder pealed out overhead. "This storm is weird," she said, climbing down the ladder. "It wasn't cloudy at all yesterday, was it?"

"Get up. Not really," Corey replied, hitting Kate a little harder now. "But it was starting to cloud up last night. Get up. And really, Jubilife isn't too far from two large bodies of water. Get up. Sudden storms happen here sometimes. It's not unheard of. Get up."

"No!" Kate twisted under the covers, presumably to protect her head. "We can't possibly travel in this weather, can we? Come on, Corey…"

Corey looked at Caryn and shrugged. "I'm game if you are."

"I like thunder storms."

"You're outvoted, two to one," Corey said, grabbing the comforters and tugging. "Let's go." Caryn joined in and between the two of them the wrestled the blanket out of Kate's furious grasp. She lay shaking nervously curled up in a ball on her bed, her face buried somewhere in her knees and covered by both her arms.

"Wow. She really doesn't like storms, does she?"

"Not at all."

"This would be really funny if it wasn't so pathetic."

Corey shrugged and then grabbed his stuff and headed for the bathroom. When he was back ten minutes later, dressed and ready to go, Caryn was ready and making sure all her stuff was packed, and Kate, who had gotten dressed while he was out, was sitting on the edge of her bunk, shivering. "Calm down, Kate," he said, folding his pajamas and packing them away. "Look, the storm is getting better already."

Kate stared from the window, where rain was hitting it harder than ever, to Corey, and back again several times. "Are you _blind_?"

"Well, the thunder isn't as loud and the lightning isn't as often. That means the violent part of the storm is moving away."

Kate didn't say anything and Caryn escaped to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Corey sighed and sat down next to Kate, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "Come on, are you a wussy little newbie that's afraid of thunder storms? Or are you a brave adventurer, ready to move on in any weather?"

Kate stared at him for a minute. "I'm an eighteen-year-old girl traveling the country training Pokemon that is VERY AFRAID OF THUNDERSTORMS."

Corey sighed again. "Come on, wuss." Corey grabbed Kate's hand and stood up, pulling her along with him. She stood reluctantly, still trembling. "Come on, pack your stuff up, put on your boots," he goaded her into action. When Caryn returned, Kate was fishing a poncho out of her pack, ready but reluctant to go.

"Wow. No bruises, so you didn't have to beat her up…. Did you blackmail her?"

"No." Corey grinned. "Kate's easy to manipulate if you know how."

"He threatened to leave me outside all day," Kate muttered.

"That was only if you didn't pack all your stuff up and get ready to leave," Corey said in a tone that clearly said he was not at all a conniving bastard when he wanted to be.

"Leave me _alone_ outside," Kate continued, zipping her pack and sliding it on.

"And _that_ was only if you didn't put on your boots."

Caryn laughed and shrugged. "Well, if we're all ready, what are we waiting for?"

"Breakfast," said Kate. "I'm hungry."

Corey put on his back pack as well and grabbed his poncho from the table. "We'll eat on the road."

"Great, our food will be soaked."

"Eat it fast then," Caryn said, pulling out an umbrella.

The rain was falling in vertical sheets from the sky with enough force to make dimples in the dirt road that lead off one of the streets of Jubilife. Kate had never traveled with anything but a poncho for rain, and after several broken umbrellas and lots of very wet clothing, Corey had conceded and bought one too. Caryn, who had never really traveled far in rain, had only an umbrella. The rain was striking the ground so hard that it hardly did any good; she was soaked to the knees in a matter of minutes and was rapidly growing wetter. Kate took pity on her and managed to fish out her spare poncho, but by that time, Caryn was already soaked.

They had to stop repeatedly while Kate froze mid-step as lightning flashed overhead and the thunder rolled by afterwards. It got to the point where Corey and Caryn were taking turns dragging her along whenever that happened. Towards the end of the morning, however, the rain started to slacken and the sky began to grow slightly brighter.

They stopped for a brief rest and a quick snack by a pond that meant it wasn't far to Oreburgh Gate. Already they could see one of the craggy foothills outlined against the ever-brightening sky.

Kate threw back the hood of her poncho and let the cool rain hit her face briefly before taking the apple Corey handed her. "This is ridiculous," she said. "There are no Pokemon out in this kind of weather. You can't even fish for anything, because the water is too disturbed."

Corey shrugged. "It could be worse. We could be assaulted every five steps like we were that time in Eterna Forest."

"Okay, yeah, _that_ was ridiculous."

"Yes. Yes it was."

"Wasn't that when you accidentally caught that Buneary?" Kate grinned.

Corey shuddered. "Don't remind me."

"And then right after you caught it, it evolved."

Caryn grinned as well. "That's interesting. Did it really evolve right after you caught it?"

Corey made a face and deigned not to answer. Kate took over and told the story. "We were up north of Floaroma in Eterna Forest, on our way to Eterna City, and it was crazy populated with Pokemon. Like, every five steps we took we were running into wild ones. It got to the point where we were back-to-back, double-battling wild Pokemon."

Caryn blinked. "That's…. that's a little crazy."

"Yeah. Well, Corey was trying to catch something…what was it? Oh, a Cherubi. Well, he was double-battling a Cherubi and a Buneary. He was trying to catch the Cherubi, and threw the pokeball, but the Buneary got mad at him and jumped—right in front of the pokeball. So he caught the Buneary and the Cherubi ran away. And then, right after he caught it, the Buneary burst back out of the ball and evolved on the spot." Kate was grinning widely at Corey's look of desperate frustration.

"I HATE Lopunny. They're useless!"

"Oh, come on. Your Lopunny knows dizzy punch and jump kick!"

"The only useful attacks it ever learns."

Caryn was laughing too hard to say anything. Corey huffed, and Kate grinned wider at him. Caryn had fallen onto her side and was clutching her stomach laughing, not caring that she lay in a mud puddle. Kate was beginning to chuckle, and Corey felt his face start to crack into a grin. Soon all three of them were laughing.


	3. Oh, come ON

Pokemon: Hellfire and Brimstone

Pokemon: Hellfire and Brimstone

Chapter 3: Oh, Come ON.

The entrance to Oreburgh Gate yawned widely before the trio as they stared up at it. In the hour and a half since they had started walking again, the rain had picked up and even though it was no longer thundering, the rain was hard and cold, and the rocks they had had to scale to get this far were treacherously slippery and they'd almost fallen several feet to the pointy rocks below many times already.

"So…" Caryn said, staring into the dim entrance.

"Yeah?" Corey asked, scuffling the mud with this sneaker.

"Is the inside this dim?"

"It's actually pretty well lit. But we have flashlights, there's tons of wood and debris in there if there's an emergency," Kate replied.

"Oh."

"There's also some natural hot springs in the less-traveled spot."

"Ooh."

Corey sighed. "Well, the rain is only getting heavier and I think it's starting to hail. I'm going inside whether you two join me or not."

Kate clung to his arm. "You are NOT leaving me out here."

"It's not thundering," Caryn said.

"It might start."

"Oh god." Corey sighed and started to slip his way over the muddy rocks to the gate entrance.

They entered the long tunnel and were rather unsurprised to find a few other travelers already sheltering there.

"Anyone have a weather report?" Corey called into the quiet mutterings.

A teenage girl sitting hugging her very young brother waved a small radio in response. "The storms should die out by tomorrow afternoon. Rain and hail until the end. Strong winds for most of the night."

"Thanks…" Kate said lowly. She turned to her friends. "I say that we find a place to stay the night and finish the way to Oreburgh tomorrow evening."

"You said there's natural hot springs?" Caryn said suggestively.

Corey nodded. "They're a bit hard to get to, but I know where they are."

"It's cold in here because we're wet and the wind just goes straight through this place. Why not find some springs and then camp by them for the night. They'll keep us relatively warm, right?"

Kate shrugged at Corey, who shrugged back. "Sure," she said. "Come on." They followed her towards a narrow path off to their left. It led them deeper into the mountain. The electronic lights that lined the main path soon faded into the distance and they fished out their flashlights to light the way.

"Oh, shit," came Kate's voice from the front of their little line.

Corey, in the back, froze at the sound of dread in her voice. "What?"

"I can't move this rock. We can't get any further."

"Alright, move." Corey slid up past Caryn next to her and pulled one of the pokeballs out of his bracer. Rather than the normal red and white, it was black with green circles patterned on it. "Meditite, come out." The ball expanded, opened, and with an odd burst of gray and black shadows, released the smallish blue and white Pokemon.

"Meditite-tite!" it said happily to Corey.

"I need you to move this boulder for us."

"Tite!" Meditite made his way happily to the jagged boulder and braced his shoulder against it. Kate moved back to give him room, and the Pokemon began to push.

After a minute, it began to budge slowly backwards. After another minute, when Meditite was beginning to show signs of tiring, the rock shuddered. It groaned loudly, and began to slowly crack along both sides.

"What the hell is this?" Caryn asked, watching as the boulder slowly expanded along its cracks.

Kate was backing farther away. "I… I think this is a Pokemon."

"…." Corey stared wordlessly as the boulder suddenly had arms and legs, and was turning around to face them.

"Oh shit," Kate said breathlessly.

"What is that?" Caryn asked again.

"It's a Golem," Corey replied.

Kate was feeling verbose. "Oh shit."

"I want it," Corey was saying, pulling another pokeball out of his bracer.

"Can't we just run from the giant rock Pokemon?!" Kate said desperately, plucking a pokeball from her belt just in case.

"No, I want it!"

Caryn was busy editing her Pokedex entry on Golem to say something about giant rock balls.

"Meditite, return," Corey said, pressing the button on the dusk ball, which absorbed the suddenly frightened-looking pokemon. When that was done, he pointed the pokeball at the ground in front of him. "Grotle, let's go!" The turtle-like Pokemon appeared as Golem leaned over and picked up a large rock from the edge of the path and lifted it over its head.

"Grotle, use Irontail But be careful not to hit the walls!"

Grotle nodded slowly and its tail began to glow as it waddled slowly towards Golem.

The giant rock Pokemon hurled the rock, and it sailed over Grotle's low body and flew at the trio further back.

Caryn ducked, Corey threw himself against the wall, and Kate just closed her eyes and started muttering desperate prayers.

"Kate, what the hell?!" Caryn yelled at her, reaching up to pull her friend down. She had just grabbed Kate's shorts hem when the rock sailed by overhead, brushing the top of the tunnel and missing the top of Kate's head by about eight inches. It crashed to the ground behind them about five yards, pelting them heavily with shards and chunks of rock.

Meanwhile, Grotle had used the awkward pause after Golem's throw to wind up and swing his thick stump of a tail heavily at the right side of Golem's body. It caught the wild Pokemon by surprise, and did more damage than Corey could have hoped for. "Use Return!" he called over the sound of settling rock.

"Grooooooooooot!" Grotle threw himself at Golem bodily, while Corey reached for a side pocket of his bag, pulling out a red and blue great ball. As Grotle backed off, he threw, and the ball struck Golem in the arm. It opened, sucked in Golem, and fell to the ground, shaking back and forth.

It rocked like that for a full minute as Corey crossed his fingers and tried to dig his legs out of the rubble from the shattered rock. When the ball finally stopped moving, he pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! Way to go Grotle!"

"Grot-grotle!" the bushes on the pokemon's back quivered with pride.

"Alright, return, Grotle!" But Grotle was too busy starting to glow to return to his ball. His body began to expand and grow, and the bushes began to grow into a tree on one side of his new shell, and mountains on the other. He was still growing when the tree began to brush the top of the tunnel. When the bright light finally died down, Torterra was crouched in the tunnel, its body as low as it possibly could go.

"Awesome!" Corey said, recalling his newly evolved Pokemon. "Guys, did you see that?" he turned to look at his friends. Caryn, who was on the ground when the rock burst, had been mostly covered in rubble. Kate had been knocked over by the force of the shrapnel and was currently helping Caryn to free herself.

"Sorry," Caryn said, rubbing her thigh to regain feeling in it. "We were a bit busy trying not to be crushed to death by a giant flying rock to notice."

Kate threw herself against one of the bigger pieces that had landed next to her friend and was holding down other rubble. "Yeah," she said, shifting the rock away and beginning to move what was underneath. "Just a bit."

Corey moved over to help, sliding his flashlight into his bracer to hold it in place and free his hand. Together, they shifted everything and helped Caryn to her feet, where she rubbed her arms and legs until the massive feeling of pins and needles from returning circulation had gone.

Kate picked up Caryn's stuff and handed it to her with a sigh. "At least we're almost there…?"

"Yeah. I need a hot bath…. Ow." Caryn rubbed at her heavily bruising back.

Kate limped off down the tunnel again, her flashlight illuminating the darkness ahead. Corey fell in behind her, supporting Caryn who was still having problems moving quite right.

The tunnel opened up around them in a sudden way, and they flashed their lights around the slightly noisy cavern.

"Awesome, we finally made it," Corey said, his light reflecting off of the steam wafting around the room.

"Monferno, Vulpix," Kate said pulling two pokeballs from her belt. The opened, and suddenly the cavern was lit by Monferno's tail.

"When did you get a Vulpix?!" Corey asked.

"I traded for one," Kate replied. "This out-of-towner really wanted an Eevee, and I had just been by Yena's, so…. Yeah. We traded."

Corey glared jealously at her as she talked to her Pokemon.

"I need you guys to find anything flammable and get a fire going. Can you do that for me?" The Pokemon nodded and went off together, starting at the far end of the cavern. The three friends followed slowly, and Kate found a rock that was mostly flat and kind of rounded. She helped Corey to sit Caryn on it, and then had her pull up her shirt.

"Let me take a look at your back," Kate said. She shined her flashlight on the skin and winced. "Honey, your back looks like someone painted you for Halloween."

"I can feel it," Caryn said, carefully stretching her muscles.

"Here, let me put some potion on it."

"…..potion?"

"Yeah. Hold on while I get one out."

"Aren't they meant for Pokemon?"

Corey looked over from where he was helping Vulpix pull down an old nest that some wild Pokemon had long abandoned. "They are, but they work on humans to some extent. Kind of like weak painkillers or antibiotics. Kate experimented with chemicals a lot as a child, and I didn't believe her at first until she used a potion to numb a burn I got when we ran into a while Ponyta."

Kate unscrewed the safety cap on the spray bottle and began to spritz Caryn's back, covering it completely with potion. Caryn sighed in happiness. "It's like you've covered my back in a thin sheet of ice…"

"And once your skin absorbs it fully, it won't wash off. It will wear off in time, like all medicine, but you'll be able to relax in the hot water without worrying about it rinsing off."

"That is amazing…" Caryn sighed.

Suddenly the cavern was much brighter. Monferno had found some old wood that other travelers had brought in but forgotten and started a fire near one side of the cavern, and Corey and Vulpix had savaged several nests they'd found in odd crevices around the room to make another down near the other end. The effect was a flickering, but well-lit cavern.

"I am all for hot baths," Kate said, beginning to strip out of her wet clothing that was plastered thoroughly with rock dust. Corey just kind of avoided looking in her direction as she did. "Need help?" Kate asked Caryn, who was trying to pull her shirt off with sore, stiff arms. "Yes," the taller girl replied.

Kate shucked her clothes and slid into boy-shorts and a skanky old tank top she'd kept in the bottom of her bag for no real reason, and then helped Caryn pull her shirt off and an equally skanky old tank on. Then she helped Caryn ease into the just-perfect water that bubbled calmly with the hot air being released from deep below them. Corey sat down on the edge of the slightly rectangular pool and slid his feet in. Caryn had found that the pool got slightly deeper towards the wall it was against, and she stood there now, submerged in the warm water up to her chin, enjoying the easing of tensed muscles.

"Aren't you coming in too?" she asked the boy lounging on the side.

"Meh."

Kate frowned. "You should come in too and wash all the rock dust off. You look like someone tried to cover you in plaster." She punctuated this remark by sinking under the water and scrubbing furiously at her hardening hair, which left a trail in the water when she came back up.

"Meh."

Kate and Caryn frowned at each other and then nodded. Corey, who was lying back with his hands tucked under his head, suspected nothing until he felt hands grabbing his legs.

"Wha-NO!"

But the two girls had already pulled him in. He splashed loudly to the surface with his hair and clothing clinging to him and he glared fiercely at the two girls. "I hate you both," he growled as he pulled himself out of the pool and began to pull his shirt off.

"You'd best come back in or I'll make my Pokemon drag you in," Kate said, motioning to where Monferno and Vulpix were sitting by one of the fires, chattering happily to themselves. "Speaking of, oi, Monferno, can you let the others out for me? It's only fair." Monferno looked up, nodded, and scampered over to where Kate had laid her shorts out to dry. He grabbed her belt, and pulled out the other three pokeballs. He pressed the buttons one at a time, and released Staravia, a Buneary, and a large blue creature with a shell on its back. "Oh, Lapras, come on in! You guys can come swim too, the water is great."

Corey stood back as Lapras pulled herself along the damp stone floor and then slid into the warm water. She immediately made herself comfortable at the deepest end, where Buneary sat on her shell playing with Vulpix, who had decided to join them. Monferno decided to stay by the fire, and Staraptor, following his example, settled down comfortably to watch.

Corey, following Caryn's request, released Ninja and Pen-Pen, the two birds immediately racing each other to the water. His own Pokemon came out shortly after: Pachirisu, which stretched out comfortably by the unoccupied fire; Meditite, who jumped into the water without hesitation; and his Staravia, who settled next to Pachirisu. Corey followed his Pokemon into the water and sat on a convenient ledge that jutted out from the rock walls of the pool.

Kate swam up and sat next to him, the submerged rock keeping everything up to her ribs under the warm water. "See? This is nice."

"I never said it wouldn't be," Corey replied, keeping an eye on where Meditite was picking on Buneary.

"But you didn't want to come in."

"Not while I was still in all my clothes, no. I was fine just soaking my feet for a little while. I was planning on coming in, though."

"…"

"What?"

"Sometimes, Corey, you make me want to smack you."

"The feeling is mutual."

Caryn waded over as well and stood with her arms leaning on the shelf of rock. "Why doesn't someone try to buy this place and use the spring-system to their advantage?" she asked.

"This section of the mountains is all considered national parkland. It's only up north that people own land on them," Corey explained. "So really, no one could."

"Ah. I thought that you could buy plots down on this end, too."

Kate leaned back against the wall of the pool. "Nope."

They enjoyed the naturally warm water for a good hour before they noticed that their fingers were pruned badly. They climbed out, took turns turning around as they changed into dry pajamas, and then laid out the sleeping bags near the fires. The Pokemon returned to their balls for the night, and every one said good night and snuggled down for a much needed sleep.


End file.
